My First Bezel

I have been doing a happy dance all afternoon!!  I have been wanting to learn how to make a bezel and set stones for a long time, but have always been afraid to try it.  Well, today I said to heck with it, the worst I can do is ruin a piece of copper.  So, I went for it.  

I had a piece of copper that I had already designed and etched, so I measured the bezel wire around my stone, cut it and filed the ends.  Next was the soldering.  Mind you, I am not very good at soldering yet, but it worked perfectly!!!  So, by this time I am feeling pretty darn good.  

Next it was time to solder the bezel to the copper piece...........oh my, I was getting scared.  I put both pieces into the pickle solution to get them really clean, centered the bezel and added the flux and solder.  I remembered that I needed to heat the entire piece evenly and as I was moving my torch around the piece the solder melted and flowed like a river!!  Oh my gosh, I had done it!!!  

This would be happy dance time!  I was so excited!!  

Ok, so I had to calm myself down because there was still one very important element to this project..............the stone had to fit.  It did!!! 

Another happy dance!!!  

I know my piece is not perfect, but to me it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!!!  I can't wait to do it again.